How to Make Money Writing. Parts 1 & 2.

Part 1. The end.

How to Make Money Writing. Part 2. It really isn’t easy to make money writing—especially writing what you want to write. What many of us refer to as, “my writing.” Not impossible, but difficult. If you are a really good writer and have a combination of good karma, connections, and timing, you might be able to do it.

For example, if you want to write a novel about a couple of days in the life of a disillusioned cigarette-smoking 16-year-old who’s been kicked out of prep school and wonders where the ducks in Central Park go in winter you might strike it rich. But even J.D. Salinger was 30-something when Catcher in the Rye was published. J.K. Rowlings was about the same age when she started channeling Harry Potter. On the other hand, the book Eragon (which I’ve never heard of) by Christopher Paolini (whom I’ve never heard of) sold more than 30 million copies, setting a Guinness World Record for the youngest author of a bestselling series. Interestingly, all three of these bestsellers were books about teens. So even if most people write based on their own experiences and imaginations, it’s never too early to start…

For the rest of us, the best way to make money is to write what others will pay us to write. That’s not a bad thing. And the two aren’t mutually exclusive. If you’re interested in the latest technology, music, or politics, there’s a reasonable chance someone will pay you to write about them.

I’m not particularly interested in technology, music, or politics—not to mention ball bearings or soapstone countertops—but, fortunately, for the last fifty years, I’ve been able to make a living as a writer. In part, because I can get interested in anything. When I was younger, I bitched and moaned about a lot of it. I considered some beneath me. And I still occasionally find myself in situations that I find ethically untenable. (That’s a good story for another time.)

Recently, I made a list from A-Z of all the things people have paid me to write about. (I cheated a little, but not much).

Addiction, Ball Bearings, Baseball, Beer, Bipolar, Cancer, Checking Accounts, Chemotherapy, Computer Accessories, Construction Companies, Cribs, Criminal Justice Reform, Cutting Boards, Daycare Furniture, Depression, Drugs, Employee Benefit Programs, Energy-Efficient Buildings, Fragrance, Genetics, Healthcare, Helicopters (Medivac), Hospitals, HVAC Systems, In-Vitro Fertilization, Industrial Machinery, Insurance, Investment Services, Judicial Reform, Kitchen Cabinetry, Legal Services, Magazines, Marble Quarries, Medical History, Mental Health, Neurotransmitters, Non-Profit Housing, Ophthalmological Instruments, Optical Filters, Opium, Packaging, Palliative Care, Pediatric Medicine, Personal Computers, Pharmaceuticals, Pollination, Post & Beam Buildings, Presidents, Quicken Software, Radioactive Storage, RFI Chips, Savings Accounts, Schizophrenia, Shoes, Silver Polish, Sluice Gates, Soap, Soapstone Countertops, Social Services, Spray Nozzles, Toys, Trade Show Displays, Trust Accounts, Union Army, Van Buren (Martin), Women’s Clothing, X-rays, YMCAs, Zoos (Petting).

Ultimately, writing’s a craft. Like any craft, the more you do it, the better, harder, more painstaking, and more rewarding it gets. Or, as I quoted Chuck Jones in a previous post: “Take your work, but never yourself, seriously. Pour in the love and whatever skill you have, and it will come out."

Maybe I’ve been doing “my writing” all along.